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Trip to Prodi’s place has press man quaking in his boots…

From European Voice's Entre-Nous column

9/24/03, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/23/14, 8:26 PM CET

You could forgive Party of European Socialists press officer Peter Reichert for thinking he is cursed after he travelled to Bologna. For no sooner had the German arrived than the area was struck by a mild earthquake.

This followed Peter’s experience in Greece during the summer when he found himself in the middle of another quake, this time measuring a mighty 6.4 on the Richter scale. EN thinks he should stay in Brussels – pretty, it’s not. But at least it’s safer…

Reichert was in the Italian city with a group of Socialist MEPs, and taxpayers will doubtless be reassured to know how keen they and the centre-right European People’s Party are to shed the assembly’s image as a travelling circus. Not.

Both prepared for this week’s trek to Strasbourg for the plenary session by jetting off to beautiful sun-baked cities.

The Socialists spent last week admiring Bologna’s majestic Palazzo Re Enzo, and got a chance to meet Romano Prodi on his home turf.

The European Commission president gave them a lecture on the future of Europe, although cynics among us could be forgiven for thinking that the future of his own political career was on his mind.

The deputies present were known to be mulling over what strategy the Italian Left should adopt to oust Silvio Berlusconi in the general election due next year and, of course, Prodi is perceived by many as the best man to lead their crusade.

The EPP, meanwhile, went on a junket (sorry, study day) to Madrid, where they were regaled by stories from Spanish premier José María Aznar and Foreign Minister Ana Palacio.

There is something splendidly parochial about the state-aid investigation launched last week by the European Commission’s competition department into JC Decaux, a French advertising company. The question …